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The Ukrainian Presidential Administration held a press conference this evening at which they revealed extensive evidence of direct military involvement in the conflict in the Donbass.
Here is the English-language press-release:
Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Taranov and Head of the Security Service Vasyl Hrytsak presented irrefutable evidence of Russian Armed Forces’ participation in hostilities in the east of Ukraine and violation of the Minsk agreements to journalists. The proofs were gathered by the Ukrainian intelligence and confirmed by the intelligence of foreign states-partners of Ukraine.
Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Taranov and Head of the Security Service Vasyl Hrytsak presented irrefutable evidence of Russian Armed Forces’ participation in hostilities in the east of Ukraine and violation of the Minsk agreements to journalists. The proofs were gathered by the Ukrainian intelligence and confirmed by the intelligence of foreign states-partners of Ukraine.
Detailed documental materials confirm constant and deliberate violation of the main provisions of the Minsk agreements by the Russian occupation forces concealed by the statements of Russia on the necessity of peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Respective materials were also presented today to the diplomatic corps accredited in Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian security officials, radical change of Russian participation in hostilities in the east of Ukraine took place in summer 2015. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are now confronting not mixed Russian terrorist groups, but structured military units of the Russian regular army. Herewith, Putin’s regime keeps denying Russia’s involvement in the conflict.
Russian troops in Donbas are directly guided by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Intensified hostilities in the east of Ukraine coincide with the intensification of terrorist and subversive groups in southern regions of Ukraine, particularly Odesa and Mykolaiv region.
Particular attention is drawn to the fact that since the beginning of 2015, all Russian officers and generals involved in hostilities in the east of Ukraine have corresponding cover-surnames to sign the military documents. They were made up to conceal Russian servicemen and avoid criminal responsibility in the future.
According to the evidence, the Russian occupation forces violate the Minsk agreements in the context of the withdrawal of heavy weaponry as well.
Earlier this evening, we posted John Schindler’s analysis of the Presidential Administration’s report on the military structure of Russian-backed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk ‘People’s Republics’.
In the full, Ukrainian-language press release, the Administration claims that Russian generals and officers are serving rotating tours of 3 to 6 months in Ukraine. Their use of falsified surnames is a tactic that dates back to the Soviet Union’s undeclared involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
According to the Administration, there is a total of 29,200 fighters in the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Lugansk People’s Republic.”
In addition, there are 33,000 fighters in separatist-held areas of Ukraine described as the “Russian Occupying Force,” and around 9,000 described as “regular servicemen of the Russian armed forces,” with 50,000 Russian forces deployed by the Russian-Ukrainian border.
The Interpreter translates:
Overall there are 21 tactical groups of the Russian armed forces (15 battalions and 6 companies). Furthermore, close to the Ukrainian border, there are another 53 tactical groups of the Russian armed forces (39 battalions and 14 companies) numbering 50,500 servicemen.
The Presidential Administration has posted several slides from the press conference on Twitter:
Russian military officers brought involved in leading the militants
Command structure of the Russian occupation army
Numbers of attacks on ATO forces’ positions for the period from 01.12.2014 – 25.08.2015
The spikes indicated here are, from the left: the offensive on the Bakhmutka highway and the taking of Donetsk Airport in January; the taking of Debaltsevo in February; the failed June 3 assault on Marinka. The latest spike is labelled “what next?”
Evidence and facts of the direct participation of soldiers and hardware of the Russian armed forces in military operations in eastern Ukraine
So far there are just press releases posted on the Presidential Administration site in three languages (Ukrainian, Russian and English) with the slides only posted on Twitter. While the full report is not yet on the official website, copies are circulating.
— Pierre Vaux
Ukrainska Pravda reports that Andriy Lysenko, military spokesman for the Presidential Administration, has announced that five Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded over the last 24 hours.
According to Lysenko, all casualties were incurred in the area around Donetsk Airport.
Earlier this morning, the ATO Press Centre claimed that Russian-backed forces had conducted 109 attacks yesterday.
The most intense fighting, the report said, took place in the south of the Donetsk region.
Yaroslav Chepurnoy, press office for the Ukrainian military in Mariupol, told 0629.com.ua that there had been 19 attacks in ‘Sector M’ over the last 24 hours.
The Interpreter translates:
According to him, militants fired on Starognatovka nine times, Bogdanovka – six times, and once on Lebedinskoye and Grigoryevka.
The militants also opened fire on Chermalyk and Nikolaevka. They fired not on our soldiers’ positions, but on the villages themselves. Fortunately, there were no civilian casualties, but there was destruction.
The militants used 122-152 mm artillery 14 times and 82 and 120 mm mortars five times.
There was one attack in the sector after midnight – militants shelled Granitnoye with 120 mm mortars from 2:00 until 2:50.
The ATO Press Centre also reported 122 mm artillery fire on Novogrigoryevka at around 21:00.
To the north of separatist-held Donetsk, the Ukrainian-held village of Opytnoye, just 2 kilometres north of the runway at Donetsk Airport, was subjected to intense bombardment with heavy mortars and Grad MLRS.
Donetsk news site 62.ua relayed corroborating reports of Grad rockets being fired from within the city last night. Some reports cited in the article claim that Russian-backed fighters were firing shells at other, separatist-held, areas of Donetsk itself. Similar claims have been made before, most recently to reporters from Deutsche Welle earlier this week.
In Avdeyevka, to the north-east, residential areas were shelled for over two hours with 122 mm artillery.
62.ua published photos of the aftermath:
The Donetsk Regional Military-Civil Administration reported today that a seven-year-old child had been wounded in Ukrainian-held Marinka, to the west of Donetsk.
To the east, the Lugansk Regional Administration reports military and civilian casualties after Russian-backed forces shelled Orekhovo, Troitskoye and Stanitsa Luganskaya.
According to the report, Stanitsa Luganskaya was fired-on with mortars, grenade launchers and small arms from 20:30 until 2 am today. Electricity is down in the town and one home was destroyed.
One pensioner was wounded by shards of glass in Orekhovo, after the village was shelled at around 15:30. The Interior Ministry reports that a house burnt down after the attack on the village.
A mortar battery commander from the 92nd Mechanised Brigade was wounded when a Ukrainian defensive position outside Schastye was shelled with mortars yesterday, reports the Administration.
— Pierre Vaux